When Logan Moon played baseball at Blue Springs South High School, he wasn't a marquee player.

He was a solid outfielder who personified the term potential. Coaches and scouts said his best baseball was yet to come, and they were right.

The Missouri Southern State University senior became the highest-ever Lions player to be drafted as his hometown Kansas City Royals made Moon a sixth-round draft selection in last week's June Major League Baseball draft.

He was the 183rd player selected.

"I've never been first-team anything – high school, college, you name it,” said Moon, who was in Blue Springs Sunday afternoon. “Yet I'm a sixth-round draft choice. I hope some high school kids or little leaguers read this and it inspires them.

“The coaches – especially our head coach, Bryce Darnell – at Missouri Southern had confidence in me, and I guess you could say the Royals have confidence in me since they drafted me. Now, I just have to go out and prove that I can play at the professional level, and I can't wait."

After some disappointing years at the University of Central Arkansas, where he hit a combined .283, Moon realized his full potential at Missouri Southern. In his lone year with the Lions, he led the team with a .386 batting average, 26 walks, 17 stolen bases and seven triples.

“It just all came together at Missouri Southern,” said Moon, who attended a Royals-Yankees game at Kauffman Stadium Saturday evening, where he signed his first professional contract.

“I went to a pre-draft workout at Kauffman Stadium with about 30 other guys, and I made a good impression,” the 6-foot-2, 195-pound outfielder said. “I was hoping to be drafted by the Royals, but you never know.”

Royals director of scouting Lonnie Goldberg said on the official Kansas City Royals website, "He came to our pre-draft workout that we had this past Saturday and he was one of the most tooled-out players we had.”

He was the first outfielder drafted by the Royals.

“I checked the first day results, to see if a buddy was drafted,” Moon said. “The second day, I was coming back from Dallas, where I was visiting my fiancée, Maddi Poteet, and I got a call from the Royals. They were interested in signing an outfielder. I told them I was very interested in signing.”

He anticipated something happening with the Royals, he just didn't know when to expect the call.

“When they picked me in the sixth round, my phone exploded,” Moon said. “I got 117 texts, all at the same time. When I got back in town, they invited me to a game and had me and my family go up in an office area and I signed my contract.”

Page 2 of 2 - He flew to Arizona on Monday for a short orientation camp, then he is expected to leave for the rookie league team in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

Moon was joking with friends and family members at a going-away party as his parents' home in Blue Springs Sunday afternoon when he said, “I'm now the second member of the family to work for the Royals.

“My brother Jordan works in the parking lot.”

While he was shaking hands, posing for photos and visiting with guests, the impact of the weekend's events had not become reality.

“I'm going to be a professional baseball player, with a chance to play for my hometown team,” Moon said, grinning. “I have so many people to thank, from my agent Erik Johnson, and my coaches at Missouri Southern and all my coaches back here in Blue Springs, my mom and dad and my entire family and my fiancée Maddi.

“I don't know when it's all going to sink in. Maybe on the plane ride down to Arizona. Maybe after I get to Idaho Falls – I don't know, it still just seems like a dream. And it's a great feeling.”